Ann Arbor school board discusses salary for new superintendent, openness of search
Ann Arbor school board members Wednesday night debated how much it will take to land a highly qualified candidate for the next Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent job.
While board members disagreed on that issue and on whether the board should have access to all the applications or only the ones their hired search firm chooses, they did agree they want plenty of community input into desired qualities for a new superintendent. They indicated they plan to set up community forums for that purpose.
Salary question
William Newman, national executive director of the board's search firm Ray & Associates, presented a list of superintendent salaries from districts of similar size. The average salary for the 12 districts from across the country was just over $200,000.
Trustee Andy Thomas said he believed the number should go down due to the economic climate in the state. He mentioned outgoing Superintendent Todd Roberts’ base salary of $188,000 was lower than the average.
“People are taking sacrifices,” he said. “The tendency is to lower salaries and not raise salaries. I don’t want the sky to be the limit.”
Roberts is leaving the district Saturday to become the chancellor of the North Carolina School of Science and Math and to be nearer to his family. Robert Allen, deputy superintendent of operations, will be in charge of the district on an interim basis.
Other trustees were skeptical that $200,000 would be enough to lure an attractive candidate.
Glenn Nelson
“I’d be very surprised if you tell us we can attract that kind of person for less than $220,000 or $230,000,” Nelson said.
“I’m willing to pay more if I get more,” said Trustee Susan Baskett. “If it takes more, fine. But I wouldn’t be comfortable saying ‘a range of $220,000,’ I would be comfortable with ‘a range of $200,000.”
The firm will be doing more market analysis to bring a more accurate estimate to trustees.
Community input
The board spent much of Wednesday’s study session discussing how to bring the search process to the community. Board members tentatively decided to have three large forums for community members to give their input into what they are looking for in a superintendent.
In addition, trustees agreed that each of the six groups who participate in board meetings would be invited to host forums for their members. One more forum will be held for community leaders.
Newman said community members who cannot attend public meetings would have the chance to fill out a survey on the district’s website. He said it would be similar to one board members filled out Wednesday.
“We want dialogue. We want to emerge as consultants knowing who we ought to be working for,” Newman said. “We’re looking for themes that are running through the community and the staff.”
Newman said the community forums have to be condensed into just a few days in order for the firm to take the input and apply it to their advertising for the position. He said it’d be in trustees’ best interest to limit the travel costs for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based group.
The board is paying Ray & Associates $21,000 plus reasonable expenses to perform the search. The board agreed an advertising package, which will place ads for the position in publications like Education Week, which will cost about $6,500.
Transparency
The board members also discussed at length whether all of the applications for the position would be able to be viewed by trustees.
Newman said the firm will be responsible for bringing a list of finalists to the trustees who can then review it and decide whom to interview. However, some trustees want access to all the applications.
“As a trustee, if it’s information I’m interested in having. I should be able to review it,” said Trustee Simone Lightfoot.
Dave Comsa, assistant superintendent of human resources and legal services for AAPS, said he would have to review whether or not applications would be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Newman said having the applications open to the public could possibly deter some candidates from applying because they would not want their current employers to know they were applying for another job.
Stead said the entire reason the district hired the search firm was to review the applications and narrow the choices for the board.
“I don’t believe it’s about trust, I believe it’s about experience,” she said. “I don’t believe we can compete with your 35 years of experience, your networking, your teams. If we could do that, we wouldn’t need your expertise. When we use words like trust, it’s not a part of this proposition. This is about a process that we’ve engaged you (the firm) to do because you have experience.”
Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.
Comments
Dr. I. Emsayin
Sun, Oct 10, 2010 : 8:52 a.m.
The district has the very able deputy superintendent, Mr. Allen in the interim position. Everyone close to him says he is capable of running the district. Why doesn't he want the job? It may be true that you can't pay a qualified person enough to take the job. Certainly AAPS doesn't want to pay a diamond in the rough $220. Such a person could include internal candidates who do not have superintendent experience or external candidates like Dr. Roberts was when he applied who are in positions like director of secondary education. I hope AAPS does thorough vetting so they don't end up with someone that another district did not like. I have heard of that occurring in AAPS in the past.
paul wiener
Fri, Oct 8, 2010 : 9:15 a.m.
I think A2 should follow the example of Long Island, NY, which has about 130 school districts, each with a super: pay them the going wage, about $3.43 million a year.
BobbyJohn
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 11:18 p.m.
We need to make sure the contract is written in a way that we can't have a repeat of Supt. Ms.Rossi Ray-Taylor's leaving in disgrace but the school district still rewarding her w/ hundreds of thousands of dollars in a buyout. We have to be able to dismiss a poor Supt. w/out being held over a barrel. Look at Willow Run. Both of these women were crooks. Protect our community w/ a well written contract.
schoolsmuse
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 9:42 p.m.
I hope they will take an approach to the proposed Mitchell/Scarlett "Lab Schools" that also involves public meetings and discussion before they move forward. As far as pay goes--every time someone leaves they seem to want to raise the pay. The right person will come to this job because they want to be in this community. Good people are sometimes willing to work for less money because of other benefits.
CincoDeMayo
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 9:11 p.m.
I was hoping that I would find out exactly what a superintendent does by reading this article. Really, I'd like to know. Like doglover, I also "have seen first hand that more pay does not necessarily equal a better candidate, as there are many factors that influence people's willingness to take a given job." And I would like to see somebody who is motivated more by factors other than money. If it is a job used so often as a stepping stone to another job, there is value in that to the applicant that does not need to be reinforced with more money. If they are doing a good job, and are willing to stay on, then increase the pay! $150,000 - $180,000 seems like plenty for the first year.
larry kramer
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 7:38 p.m.
The superintendent doesn't teach, drive a bus, counsel students, sweep the floors, or cook stuff in the cafeteria. Just what does the super do? Have meetings? I suggest we do without a super and see if the students do any better or worse. Give the money to the best teacher!
DonBee
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 5:35 p.m.
In talking to several people today familiar with the Special Education Millage. It looks like WISD will go for a HIGHER millage rate rather than a straight renewal. Talk about gambling in this economy. A straight renewal would be easy to sell, an increase will be difficult. Seems I remember a millage about a year ago that did not do so well. I wonder who's bright idea this is?
William D. Ratcliff
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 2:35 p.m.
The salary for the Ann Arbor school's new superintendent should be compared to the salaries in the midwest or, better yet, with salaries in Michigan. I am sure that many candidates would accept a salary which would be comparable with his/her peer. Most of the past superintendents have accepted the position in Ann Arbor because of Ann Arbor's exemplary reputation. Many use Ann Arbor as a stepping-stone to a future"higher" or "better" position. I also understand and accept why Ms. Lightfoot would like to see the resumes of some or most of the applicants. There may be a diamond in the rough which the hired screening committee may miss and it is her responsibility as a board member to help select the best superintendent possible. Experience is a great teacher but it is not infallible. Experience gets better when it listens to new ideas.
doglover
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 2:21 p.m.
I agree that in this economic climate, the Board should be looking at the more modest range of $150-200k. I have seen first hand that more pay does not necessarily equal a better candidate, as there are many factors that influence people's willingness to take a given job. Also, if you start too high, how can you hope to reward good performance? Don't forget that search firms are usually paid a percentage of first year salary, so have a vested interest in maximizing the salary of the new superintendent.
John Agno
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 2:16 p.m.
History illustrates that Ann Arbor District superintendents don't stick around for very long----only taking the job as a career stepping stone for moving to larger and more prestigious positions. Therefore, rather than paying them, why not have the winning candidate pay the district for the opportunity to serve in this career-enhancing community?
local
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 11:45 a.m.
Wow, a possible pay raise of 32,000 while every other employee just took a pay cut. This makes no sense at all, in fact, teachers, bus drivers, custodial staff, etc... should be up in arms. Can't wait for future negotiations to take place if this occurs. If Roberts is willing to have 188,000, then that should be starting point for future superintendent.
KeepingItReal
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 10:57 a.m.
My question to Simone Lightfoot.. If you want to see all of the applications, why not just advertise the position and let your Human Resource Department collect the applications and provide them to School Board members to sort through. Otherwise why are you willing to waste taxpayer money in this economy by hiring a search firm? If you feel that your search firm may hold back on potential applicants,then you need to address this with the board and the firm.
Piledriver
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 10:28 a.m.
Sure, let's raise the base salary from $188,000 to $220,000 in this economy. If my memory serves me right, didn't AAPS just go through a series of drastic budget cuts in an effort to overcome a severe budget deficit? "Ann Arbor....28-square miles surrounded by reality."
Stephen Landes
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 9:59 a.m.
Board members seem to need some education themselves: a single figure is not "a range". As for SonnyDog09's comment about starting at $150k, I totally agree. All across our state and in many others people are taking reductions in salary. The superintendent's salary will be paid by citizens whose income has been dramatically reduced over the last 2 years. In my opinion the proportion of total spending on administration relative to direct classroom is too high already -- we don't need to make the situation worse by spending even more for a superintendent.
DonBee
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 9:45 a.m.
I wonder if a $32,000 raise would have kept Dr. Roberts. Effectively that is what a $220,000 salary base would have been. I also wonder how the AAEA will react to a $32,000 raise for the position in the next contract discussion. If Dr. Roberts was wonderful and he took $188,000, then I would expect that another wonderful person could be found for the same salary. The bigger question is will the board put in place a succession plan so that if the new person leaves, there is someone trained to step into their shoes?
SonnyDog09
Thu, Oct 7, 2010 : 9:44 a.m.
regarding the new superintendent's salary: income in the state is down 20% from 2000-2009. So, take 188,000 x.8 and you get $150k/year. That should be the starting point. Welcome to the real world.